Charlestown Online

[pocoloco91]

My understanding is that Republicans in the State Senate (Senator Knapik and others) recently attacked and mocked the Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day holidays in Suffolk County. With Bunker Hill Day approaching, isn't it amazing that one would use our country's history, our state's history, OUR neighborhood's history to make a speech and mock us (several republicans did so and several members of the Senate voted to rescind these recognitions of our special history). A big thanks to Senator Jack Hart, who was the only one to rise and defend our traditions (Galluccio did not chooose to defend Bunker Hill Day by speaking on the floor of the Senate) so thanks Jack Hart from all the friennds of Bunker Hill Day and for taking on the Republicans.

[epstein93]

hmmmmmmmm........plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery

http://www.universalhub.com/node/25580

Republicans mock freedom and American history

You may recall the failed effort in the state Senate to repeal Evacuation Day and Bunker Hill Day. Forget the hack issue. Over in Charlestown, where they have some hallowed Revolutionary ground, some people are annoyed at this affront to the memory of those who payed the ultimate price for our nation's freedom:

... "With Bunker Hill Day approaching, isn't it amazing that one would use our country's history, our state's history, OUR neighborhood's history to make a speech and mock us (several republicans did so and several members of the Senate voted to rescind these recognitions of our special history). A big thanks to Senator Jack Hart, who was the only one to rise and defend our traditions (Galluccio did not chooose to defend Bunker Hill Day by speaking on the floor of the Senate) so thanks Jack Hart from all the friends of Bunker Hill Day and for taking on the Republicans."

[looper]

First they took Bunker Hill Day...but I wasent from Charlestown
Then they took Evacuation Day...but I wasent from South Boston
Then they took Thanksgiving...but I was no freeking Pilgrim
Then they took Labor Day...but as my xwife says I never worked an honest day in my well worn life...
then they.....never mind
Happy Holidays to all and good night!

[corps]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBqE9UXyZCM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Euniversalhub%2Ecom%2F&feature=player_embedded
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corps

[pocoloco91]

BOTH BRANCHES PLAN FORMAL SESSIONS THURSDAY
A nine-minute House session Monday morning ended with plans to reconvene Thursday at 11 a.m. Thursday's session is a "formal," which usually means bills requiring debate or roll call votes will be considered. There will be a closed Democratic caucus at noon Thursday. Rep. Donato, who chaired Monday's session, did not announce which bills might come up later in the week. The House on Monday sent to the Judiciary Committee, co-chaired by Rep. Eugene O'Flaherty, legislation filed last Thursday by Gov. Deval Patrick to protect victims and witnesses of crimes. The Senate will meet in an informal session on Wednesday at 11 a.m., with a formal session planned for Thursday. Sometimes when both branches hold formal sessions on the same day, they collaborate to push through major bills. The four bills at the top of the current agenda - transportation, pension, and ethics reform, as well as the state budget - are all locked up in conference committee negotiations. No conference agreements have been announced yet but Speaker Robert DeLeo last week expressed confidence that progress was being made. The Senate on Monday also sent legislation abolishing a pair of holidays that recognize key Revolutionary War battles - Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day - to the Judiciary Committee. O'Flaherty led the House floor fight last week to defeat the holiday elimination proposal when it was offered as an amendment to a supplemental budget.

[oldschoolboy]

Interesting article, curious why the State Senator from Wakefield believes that Patriot Day is different from Bunker Hill Day. Please leave our traditions alone Senator. Call him and tell him hands off:
State House, Room 308, Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-1206
Fax: (617) 722-1063
State House E-Mail Address: Richard.Tisei@state.ma.us
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 7, 2009
In Boston, Threatening of 2 Holidays Hits Nerves
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
BOSTON — Quick, why is June 17 a government holiday here and only here?

If you answer, “Because the Battle of Bunker Hill took place on that day in 1775,” you must be the scholarly sort. If you answer, “Because Boston deserves an extra holiday,” you must be a public employee here or exceptionally proud of the city’s history.

And if you say, “Because lawmakers from Boston refuse to give up a pointless day off,” you agree with many in the state legislature, who are building a case for axing the holiday amid the financial crisis.

State Senator Richard R. Tisei, a Republican from Wakefield, in Middlesex County north of Boston, filed legislation on Friday to eliminate Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day, another Revolutionary War milestone that is celebrated on March 17, as holidays.

They have been paid days off for state and local government employees and schoolchildren in Boston and the rest of Suffolk County since 1935 and 1941. (Schools in Somerville also close on both holidays, as do schools in Cambridge on Evacuation Day.)

Both houses of the legislature recently rejected proposals to end the two holidays, with a 22-to-17 vote in the Senate and a 78-to-78 vote in the House.

Those proposals came as amendments to budget bills, and Mr. Tisei, the Senate minority leader, is hoping that a stand-alone bill will draw more support. Gov. Deval Patrick has said he would sign a bill if it passed.

“At a time when we are making some real difficult cuts to vital human services,” said Kyle Sullivan, Mr. Patrick’s spokesman, “it is tough to make the argument to continue pay for these holidays.”

The savings would be small, about $6 million a year, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonpartisan watchdog group, which estimates that 35,000 public employees get the days off. But Mr. Tisei said the gesture would soothe taxpayers, who have seen ethics scandals on Beacon Hill over the last year and may soon see a 25 percent increase in the sales tax.

“It may sound symbolic to some people,” Mr. Tisei said, “but the symbolism is important given the times we are in right now. When people are being laid off by the thousands and taking pay cuts in order to keep their jobs, they look at this as just an extravagance.”

Many Suffolk County lawmakers, who represent Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop and Boston, disagree. Senator Jack Hart, a Democrat from South Boston, warned last month of setting a precedent.

“If we eliminate these holidays today in Suffolk County, then what’s next?” Mr. Hart asked. “Do we eliminate maybe Presidents’ Day? Do we eliminate July 4th? Why don’t we get rid of Thanksgiving?”

Mr. Hart, who did not respond to an interview request, also hinted that the proposal was sour grapes on the part of lawmakers from outside Suffolk County.

“I would not go out to Hampden or Hampshire necessarily and tell your constituents to disregard what your history is,” he said, referring to counties in western Massachusetts.

Peter Drummey, librarian of the Massachusetts Historical Society, said the Battle of Bunker Hill and Evacuation Day were indeed seminal events in the nation’s history. The British won the Battle of Bunker Hill, he said, but they suffered significant casualties and realized that they had underestimated their opponent.

Evacuation Day — which, conveniently for this heavily Irish city, coincides with St. Patrick’s Day — commemorates the withdrawal of British forces from Boston, another turning point.

“I’d just hate for there to be confusion about the importance of these events — to have that lost in an argument about whether the holidays are good public policy,” Mr. Drummey said.

Mr. Tisei said that Massachusetts was too aware of its history to let that happen and that parades for Bunker Hill Day usually take place on Sundays anyway.

All of Massachusetts celebrates a third Revolutionary War-inspired holiday, Patriots’ Day, on the third Monday in April. Its elimination has not been proposed.

“It’s different,” Mr. Tisei said.



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OSB

[oldschoolboy]

The tradition of the Bunker Hill Day parade dates back to 1786. The June 20th edition of the "American Recorder and Charlestown Advertiser" reported that almost 20,000 Bostonians led by Governor Bowdoin had marched from the State House to Bunker Hill. Their march led them by many of the still burned out buildings that had been old Charlestown. For during the battle, the British cannons, firing from Copp’s Hill in the North End, and Royal Navy ships, firing from the mouth of the Charles River, had started fires that had burned every one of the almost 300 hundred houses in Charlestown to the ground.

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century the parade has continued every year to honor the singular historical event that occurred when the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought in Charlestown on June 17, 1775.

On June 17, 1825 the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument was laid before a crowd of over 100,000 persons. The guests of honor were the Marquis de Lafayette, General

Washington’s Aide de Camp, and 40 actual veterans of the battle, some still carrying the muskets that they had used 50 years before. Daniel Webster gave the keynote address.

When the Bunker Hill Monument was actually dedicated on June 17, 1843, the parade’s guest of honor was the then president of the United States, John Tyler, of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too" fame,

At the turn of the last century, the 125th anniversary of the battle was commemorated by not one, but three parades. Over 250,000 persons attended these parades.

In the morning, the "Antique and Horrible" carnival parade was held with floats and costumes. One of the hits of this parade was "Buffalo Bill" Cody and performers from his Wild West Show. For many years around the turn of the century, Buffalo Bill scheduled his show’s appearance in Boston to coincide with the Bunker Hill Day Parade. And for each of these years, he and almost 400 of his mounted Rough Riders would put on a memorable show of horsemanship all along the Charlestown parade route.

In the afternoon, the government and military parade saw over 5000 marchers. This parade was led by 1200 sailors from the Atlantic Squadron who march ahead of the veterans of the recently ended Spanish-American War and one of the final marching contingents of veterans from the Civil War’s Grand Army of the Republic.

The third and most spectacular parade of the 1900 celebration was held on the next evening when 16 illuminated light floats and a car were run over the electric trolley lines from Winter Hill, up Bunker Hill Street, to City Square. This production had been brought from New Orleans, where it had been the hit of the Mardi Gras, to Charlestown especially for the centennial parade. Each of the floats depicted historical scenes from the beginning of the modern era to the then present day. The last float proclaimed that the new century could be the "Era of Electricity"

http://www.geocities.com/Bunker_Hill_Parade/facts_bh_parade.html
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OSB

[looper]

Oldschoolboy: this doesent mean that they are cancelling the parade! Enjoy the parade.

[ctown4life]

gotta love government!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In tough times, days like Bunker Hill Day mean more to the people than saving a dime on government spending. I have been serving in the military for the past 20 years and only get back occaisionally for the parade, and it is always a family and friends reunion. This reminds me of forced busing, some outside politician making proposals for people he doesn't represent, it disgusts me. I could go on and on about where townies watch the parade from, the events surrounding the parade, the people that come back, etc, etc, this is a shame that it is even being discussed.

[oldschoolboy]

Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day are two holidays which commemorate the sacrifices our fighting men and women made for their country (“Mayoral candidates vote no on holidays,” June 11).

Would Councilors Mike Flaherty and Sam Yoon be in favor of exempting all non-Christians from celebrating Christmas, a religious holiday? While Christmas signifies the birth of a man who died on the cross for his beliefs, Flaherty and Yoon should weigh the number of crosses sitting atop the graves of heroic men and women in Arlington National Cemetery. Those heroic men and women died for the freedom that the councilors so enjoy. On the other hand, Sal LaMattina has never been an individual who is swayed by public opinion.

- Charles J. Livingstone,
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/letters/view.bg?articleid=1178952

HERE, HERE Mr. Livingstone. I sincerely hope that neither of these counselors show up for Bunker Hill Day Ceremonies tommorow.
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OSB

[pocoloco91]

Let's give credit where credit is due OldSchoolBoy....LaMattina's role was ceremonial...this is a state issue so it rests with our Representative and Senator.

[oldschoolboy]

pocoloco91: It seem that Bunker Hill is being attacked from every different political and news media in every part of the state. I cant keep track of it. I really am sick of it. Its a damn shame. I just read that some clown is even calling for shortening the parade route. This keeps adding fuel to the fire.

[luddite]

I have not read or heard of such, but I am not too surprised. The parade seems shorter and shorter each year - we should be ready to fight to keep our parade, and not worry about the holiday so much. I can deal with no holiday. I cannot imagine no parade. Just something to keep in the back of your mind.

[pocoloco91]

Being a history & political buff, I am very upset OldSchoolBoy with the attacks....and I'm upset my State Senator did not speak on the Senate chamber about this and instead the Senator from South Boston had to defend this....the Rep. did the right thing and the City Councillor in a ceremonial way also did the right thing....